Comings & Goings: July 2022
by Sean Luechtefeld, ANCOR
ANCOR (Alexandria, VA) – Jerri “The Fixer” McCandless, who spent the past quarter-century wearing a wide variety of hats on behalf of ANCOR’s vibrant community of providers, is retiring from her post as Special Assistant to the CEO, effective tomorrow.
Just about everything you might have appreciated since Jerri joined the ANCOR staff has her fingerprints all over it. She first came to us in 1997 at a time when our staff—composed then of just four association professionals—was still based in Annandale, Virginia. Infinitely likeable and widely adored by our growing community of providers, Jerri’s role grew alongside the association, directing everything from communications to administration to member relations and more.
Although she will retire with the title of “Special Assistant to the CEO,” long-time readers of Connections recognize that this is simply corporate speak for “Unicorn Who Can Do It All,” a title Jerri herself will deny advocating for when she took on her most recent role. Legend has it that since then, Jerri’s job description contained only a single bullet point that reads “other duties as assigned.”
Always the commensurate professional, Jerri has served as the go-to for all ANCOR member needs, the hotel whisperer for ANCOR conferences and events, the quorum commander for ANCOR’s leadership elections, the eagle eye for each and every typo or grammatical error peppered into ANCOR’s communications by the editors of this publication, and as an ANCOR-to-English dictionary for all things Board of Directors-related. But above all, Jerri’s greatest joy was her in-person visits with member agencies, which gave her the opportunity to meet their staff and the people they support.
Despite constantly insisting that she won’t be coming in on Monday, Jerri’s colleagues refuse to accept the possibility that she may not, in fact, be bluffing. If they could accept this as anything other than fake news, they would tell you that more than any professional skill Jerri brings to work each day, they will most miss her warm and inviting presence around the office and on our Zoom calls.
Upon her retirement and when she’s finally done answering all of our silly questions about how to manage those other duties as assigned, Jerri looks forward to volunteering in the Alexandria community teaching English as a second language, and to spending more time traveling, especially to pursue her next global adventure and to see her nieces and their families in North Carolina and Switzerland.
ANCOR wishes Jerri the best of luck in her retirement. Or, at least, we would if she were actually retiring. But since she’s not, we don’t have to worry about that. See you Monday, Jerri!
Have news about retirements, appointments, celebrations, mergers, acquisitions and more? Email items for Comings & Goings to Sean Luechtefeld.